The present invention relates to a U-shaped curtain rod, and more particularly to a U-shaped curtain rod that includes an adjustable rod and two knuckle joints pivotally turnably connected between the adjustable rod and two mounting plates fixed to, for example, two window jambs. Each of the knuckle joints includes two adjusting blocks that are closely attached to each other by a screwing member extended through centered holes provided on the adjusting blocks, and could be pivotally turned relative to each other by slightly loosening the screwing member. A plurality of radially extended adjusting teeth are provided on two contact surfaces of the two adjusting blocks to locate the latter to an adjusted position. When the adjusting blocks are pivotally turned, two connecting arms connected to outer ends of the adjusting blocks to separately connect to the mounting plate and the adjustable rod are pivotally turned relative to the mounting plate to a position closer to or away from the window as desired.
A U-shaped curtain rod is frequently designed for fixing to window jambs above a kitchen sink, FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional U-shaped curtain rod that mainly includes an adjustable rod 10 and two mounting plates 20. The adjustable rod 10 includes two L-shaped tubes 11, two inner ends of which are integrally bent into two telescopic heads 12 for the two L-shaped tubes 11 to slidably connected to each other at these telescopic heads 12. An outer end of each L-shaped tube 11 is provided at upper and lower sides with two symmetrical long holes 13, and an engaging opening 14 is defined between the upper and the lower sides of each outer end. Each mounting plate 20 includes a fixing base 21 having two mounting holes 22 formed at predetermined positions thereon, and a support bracket 23 forward extended from an outer edge of the fixing base 21 at a right angle relative to the fixing base 21. The support bracket 23 includes a smoothly curved lower front corner to provide an engaging nose 24, and a retaining projection 25 upward extended from a predetermined point on an upper edge of the support bracket 23. The retaining projection 25 is adapted to engage with one of the long holes 13 on the outer ends of the L-shaped tubes 11.
FIG. 2 shows the manner of mounting the conventional U-shaped curtain rod to two window jambs. As shown, the two mounting plates 20 are attached to desired positions on the window jambs above a kitchen sink by threading screws through the mounting holes 22 on the fixing bases 21. Then, connect a curtain 30 to the two slidably connected L-shaped tubes 11 and adjust the telescopic heads 12 to obtain a desired overall length for the adjustable rod 10 to match with a distance between the two fixed mounting plates 20. The adjustable rod 10 is then connected to the mounting plates 20 by aligning and engaging two long holes 13 at upper sides of the outer ends of the two L-shaped tubes 11 with the upward extended retaining projections 25, and allowing the engaging noses 24 of the mounting plates 20 to slide into the engaging openings 14 to locate the whole support brackets 23 in the engaging openings 14 to firmly support the adjustable rod 10 at a desired position.
The above-described conventional U-shaped curtain rod has the following disadvantages:
1. The U-shaped adjustable rod 10 is formed from two L-shaped tubes slidably connected to each other at inner ends. The curtain 30 hung on the adjustable rod 10 is always located in front of the window jambs with a fixed distance between the curtain and the window. That is, the distance of the curtain 30 from the window is defined by the L-shaped tubes 11 and is not adjustable. The curtain 30 is therefore monotonously located in front of the window.
2. Since the distance between the curtain 30 and the window is fixed and could not be adjusted closer to the window, the curtain 30 tends to be wetted by slashed water when a user works at the sink. To avoid splashing water and wetting the curtain 30, the user would have to do work at the sink in a moderate and less efficient manner.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved U-shaped curtain rod to eliminate drawbacks existing in the conventional U-shaped curtain rod.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a U-shaped curtain rod having an adjustable rod that could be easily adjusted to a position closer to or away from a window as desired.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a U-shaped curtain rod having an adjustable rod that could be adjusted to a position closer to a window as desired, so as to avoid a curtain from being wetted by splashed water and allow a user to do works at a sink in a more efficient manner.
To achieve the above and other objects, the U-shaped curtain rod of the present invention includes an adjustable rod formed from two telescoping hollow tubes; two knuckle joints connected to two outer ends of the adjustable rod, each of which being formed from two laterally symmetrical sets of a connecting arm and an adjusting block; and two mounting plates to which the knuckle joints are pivotally turnably connected. The two adjusting blocks of each knuckle joint are closely attached to each other by a screwing member extending through centered holes thereof, and are provided at contact surfaces with a plurality of radially extended adjusting teeth to locate the two adjusting blocks at an adjusted position relative to each other. By slightly loosening the screwing members, the two adjusting blocks of each knuckle joint could be turned relative to each other, allowing the two connecting arms to pivotally turn to positions closer to or away from a window to which the curtain rod is fixed.